1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to expanded food products and more specifically to a process for using expandable pellets or half-products to create a molded snack food product having a desired target shape.
2. Description of Related Art
Products comprising pellets which puff or expand upon microwave heating are known in the art. Such expandable pieces are generally referred to as “pellets” or “half products” in the puffed snack food art. Upon microwave heating, the pellets gradually expand to form a plurality of individual puffed pieces, each of which remain covered with a flavored coating. The half products can be made by extruding a dough into small pellets and drying the pellets to a 5% to 15% moisture range.
While the various individual snack pieces made from puffed half products known in the art are popular, it would be desirable to have even greater variety in and control over the properties of the snack foods made therefrom. A need exists for a method of producing a wider variety of snack products using expandable pellets than is currently available in the art, and for controlling the properties of snack food products made using expandable pellets.